Innsbruck, Austria

I have been in Austria a month and am now leaving for Saltzburg, so I thought it was high time that I finally put down in words my experience of Innsbruck.

My first impressions upon flying in a month ago, was how green it was! I also noticed that there were huge parcels of farmland and meadows, but they looked more natural than our manufactured plots of land back home. The River Inn runs through Innsbruck (hence the name), and it's a big long river. Huge mountains tower over the city. The town is small and simple, but also has just about everything one would need - just differently than at home.

The River Inn

The smaller Sill River that feeds into the Inn

Pics from around town:

Walking to town

To old town

Me at the famous Golden Roof

Could be my favorite store.....

Annasaeule (the memorial tall statue to the right of center) - on Maria Teresia Street (the most famous street in Innsbruck)

Arc D'Triumph

Drug stores only sell drugs, medicines, and prescriptions - you can't get them at the grocery or convenience store like back home; AND most stores (grocery, mall, drug....etc) close by 6 or 7pm, with just about everything closed on Sunday (Austria is a catholic country and I assume these customs stem from this).

Grocery stores are similar to home (just carrying food and drinks). I found a great veggie/organic grocery store that had everything I needed to cook/eat at home. It's called a Reformhaus. I was able to find tofu and vegan yogurt in the regular grocery stores. The restaurants were a bigger challenge. Only one vegan restaurant in town, and it wasn't so good. Mostly, we cooked at home or ate at the Italian restaurant across the street: Luna Rosa. The food was real good and they were great at making wonderful vegan pizzas for me. I have eaten so much pizza and pasta here! We have found some nice things for me at regular restaurants too: soft pretzels (which I love) and mixed green salads (which here consist of lettuce, a cole slaw kind of salad, a potato salad, and tomatoes and sometimes beets - all without dairy of any kind). They are very good!

All the shopping carts are locked, but you can rent one for 1 euro

You insert the euro in the slot. When you are finished with the cart, put the key in to lock it up and you get your euro back!

The people here are very friendly, and many speak some English (though I try in German or have Helmut ask questions for me).

Here are some more observations:

Every Saturday at noon, they test their air raid siren! Imagine my surprise the first time I heard that - lol.

Buses - great public transportation system, complete with digital boards telling you when the next bus is due to arrive.

Walking & biking - Plenty of people walk and bike everywhere. There are plenty of bike lanes and paths along the river. Helli and I ended up walking most of the time. Downtown was only about a 15/20 minute walk.

Toilets - They have an interestingly designed toilet here (there are some "normal" ones as well). The outside and design is what we know, but the bowl is not a bowl, but a "platform" that leads to a small water area....so you basically do your business on porcelain and the water washes everything to the little water "bowl". Here is a pic to explain better:

And toilet paper here is akin to paper towels back home - thick and a bit rough.

The weather here was mostly warm when I first arrived, but now it has turned cold and rainy. I even had to buy boots and a jacket! Here is a pic of the mountains after it rained all day one day (snow!)